Apple is reportedly investigating a switch to OLED displays for the iPhone. The company, which has already adopted OLED display technology for the Apple Watch, is said to be talking to suppliers and manufacturers about the switch, which would apparently happen with the 2018 iPhone.
While OLED displays could allow for richer colors, more intense brightness, and better energy efficiency over LCD displays, there are still technical hurdles which Apple needs to clear for an optimal experience. From Nikkei:
There are technical challenges as well. The brightness, energy-saving capacity and other functions of OLED panels tend to degrade over time. Apple has begun consulting with display makers and their suppliers of manufacturing equipment about the technology. The companies will work over the next year or so to see whether those drawbacks can be eliminated and a stable supply of screens secured.
While ultimately Apple may elect to stick with LCD over OLED, it's a no-brainer that they'd at least investigate a switch. One of the advantages of OLED is that it only lights the pixels that you need, so any black interface elements wouldn't use up energy, leading to greater battery life, especially if Apple included a universal night mode.
Reader comments
Apple reportedly exploring switching iPhones to OLED displays in 2018
This will be great. Love or hate Samsung but there galaxy screens are amazing.
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Truth
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I do like the overall picture quality on all the OLEDs I've had better than the picture quality on the LCDs I've had. And coming off a long stint with a Galaxy Note 3, and a very very short one with a Nexus 6, I can tell you that the colors on my iPhone6+ display are very underwhelming by comparison, especially in the reds.
But, while the colors are pretty flat on the Apple, one area where it REALLY shines is in its white balance. It's perfect! Both the Note 3, and the Nexus had "dingier", slightly yellowed whites. You really never noticed that unless you had it next to an iPhone, but then yeow! OLEDs have a problem achieving perfect white. Supposedly the Nexus 6p has a slight blue bias, which I'd think is better than a yellow one, but still falls short of what the Apple produces.
Still, having to pick a winner here, I definitely think OLEDs produce the best picture overall. The white quality difference is a whole lot less noticeable unless they're side by side, while the color difference jumps out at you always. OLEDs are just GORGEOUS!
BUT, I'm still not sure I want an OLED in my iPhone for two reasons:
The reason of lesser importance to me is that I don't think the article is right about battery savings with OLED. Yes, it only activates the needed pixels, but bright white on an OLED is a real battery sucker. So I think unless they have a "dark mode" in the correspondent future version of iOS, that the move will result in a net loss of battery life, not a net gain.
And the more important reason for me, by far, is that OLED displays degrade over time in a way that LCDs don't. It's not a matter of whether your OLED will burn-in or not, they are always burning-in. The question is whether they will burn-in evenly (resulting in hardly-noticeable "dingying" over time) or unevenly, resulting in ghosting, which is what we incorrectly think of as the burn-in (actually the ghosts themselves are usually the part not burned-in). My Note 3 burned in very unevenly resulting in awful ghosting.
There are apps that counteract this, such as the Nexus6's "invert colors" mode combating ghosting by making what's usually dark light, and what's usually light dark (which is pretty smart, actually), or more extreme measures like the 3rd party apps which just cycle through solid colors and white. These do help against ghosting, but they do it by deliberately burning in the areas that aren't as burned in, hastening the "dinge".
By choice, by design, I am a part of both the Apple and Android worlds - and I don't see that changing any time soon (actually, I'm trying to get into Windows as well, but that's a different story for a different time). Apple is more of a "left brain" thing for me, while Android is more of a "right brain" thing. Likewise, LCD is more of a left brain thing, while OLED is a right brain thing. I like OLED better, but I trust LCD more, just in the same way I like Android better but trust Apple more. In fact, the OLED vs LCD thing is part of the reason I "left brain" my iPhone6+ more than the Nexus6 I traded to get it, and also why I "right brain" the Nexus more.
So, frankly, I'm not sure I want OLED on Apple.
Lord willing, I should have both an Android and an Apple at the same time from this coming tax time and onward from there indefinitely. I think I'd prefer the shnazzier, jazzier, but buggier, riskier screen on the schnazzier, jazzier, but buggier, riskier phone, while leaving a more practical, reliable, resilient screen on a more practical, reliable, resilient phone.
Cheers!
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!
Yes.......OLED displays are beautiful. Retina was surpassed years ago. Deal with it.
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The term "retina" was just something Apple concocted to signify screens that surpassed a certain pixel density, and has nothing to do with the argument. Technically, any mid-range to flagship device today is already "retina", whether LCD or OLED.
I know Retina is a buzzword for tech illiterate who don't understand pixel density. Still, both resolution and quality of displays in Apple products have been surpassed for years.
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That's not true. You can still count on LCD for better, crisper whites and for longevity, which is not something that Androids are known for. iPhones are passed throughout families for years
That would be great. Looking forward to that.
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From my experience with OLED, blacks only look good in text & certain graphics. In video & photos, anything that's not completely-off-black results in less colors than LCD. Like a dark scene, there just isn't enough of a gradient. Probably a certain low-end threshold of power required to turn on the pixel. Also, seemingly the same reason, they can't go dark enough for nighttime use; it's just too bright even at the lowest setting. This may have been addressed with newer tech.
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Also, I've seen burn-in on OLED TVs at the big box stores. I haven't witnessed this on a phone, but I have seen short-term ghosting. I would much rather have a fast gtg LCD than any chance of ghosting.
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Seems like a ways out. I thought for sure next year. I'm a fan of pretty things and definitely love OLED. Love how all the colors just pop out
Yea, the colors just pop out, punch you in the face and scratch your eyes. Too bright and over saturated.
Either Apple would have to use decently calibrated displays (I'd expect them to) with more natural colors or include some color options in settings (unlikely). Would hate it if I had to jailbreak to fix the screen.
After all the crap they've talked...it figures...they'll call it iOLED and it'll be the greatest display evar...
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Probably will
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And very likely the people will believe them.
Posted from my Samsung Galaxy S6
Ofcourse the voice of reason is never too far behind.
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Retina OLED or rOLED
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I'll bet they will do it better. Apple will address every short coming current OLED screens have. iOLED screens? You bet your ass they will be!.
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The true secret of that OLED is when it's displaying black, the pixel will not be light on. And it has to combine with a layer of Polaroid filter so that the display will emerge with the bezel (and it has to be black colour!), look at how Nokia implement that on their Lumia device. It's magical. Apple will copy that idea (already doing that to apple watch) and didn't even give credit to Nokia... how ungrateful.
Posted from my Samsung Galaxy S6
Let's just hope that Apple switch to OLED, we could finally get deep blacks and bright whites.
But the problem is that iOS is more LCD friendly than OLED.
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Hopefully Apple can be trusted to use somewhat decently calibrated displays at least. Been a while since I looked and any type of OLED display but I've never seen one that wasn't over saturated to a disgusting degree.
For the Watch I can see how OLED is a good idea with a mostly black interface allowing some battery saving there, but what good is that on the iPhone where iOS uses black for text and basically nothing else. In that situation, all pixels lit, OLED could actually draw more power.
How is the picture colour on the apple watch compare to the iPhone display? Does it appear over saturated? Anyone did a side by side comparison?
Posted from my Samsung Galaxy S6
Completely agree.
In my opinion OLED on the galaxy phones are a rather horrendous sight.
Apple should stick to LCD and perhaps concentrate on developing the technology to surpass OLED's apparent benefits.
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Modern OLEDs are actually quite accurate, if Anandtech screen tests are to be believed. There's one Chinese flagship (forgot the company; either Xiaomi or Meizu, iirc) that actually measured better than the iPhone 6/6s. New Samsung flagships also apparently measure well, though they're still way oversaturated to my eyes - you export the images they take to a color managed desktop display and they appear so different compared to what you see on the phone screens.
In my humble opinion Samsung Galaxy screens are simply quite horrible, not least because of brightness and over saturation issues.
Apple should concentrate on developing LCD technology.
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You seriously need to go play with the GS6. I use assign iPhone 6s as my daily driver, but am completely jealous of that display!
For those of you complaining about saturation, that's a matter of settings. Samsung presets their phones for a saturated look, but they give users the ability to tone it down.
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I really dislike these colour saturated screens.Hopefully Apple negates that problem
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I'm torn on this.
As one who DELIBERATELY tries to keep a foot in Apple AND a foot in Android (and is trying to find a way to put a third foot in Microsoft, but that's beside the point), I can see the plusses and minuses both ways.
OLEDs (I'm presuming they mean AMOLED) DO have MUCH stronger, more dazzling, more vibrant colors than most LCDs, and take it from me, comparatively, the colors on the iPhone displays are pretty weak. Heck, I still have an old 2011 HTC Thunderbolt around just because I never got rid of it, and IT has more vibrant, more dazzling colors than the iPhone - and I'm not even 100% sure that one's even OLED!
----BUT---- OLEDs are susceptible to burn-in. It happened like crazy to my old Galaxy Note 3. And while the colors may be underwhelming on the iPhone, what IS spectacular about them is how perfect the white balance is - right down the middle! OLEDs have a problem with perfect white as well. On both my Note 3 and the Nexus 6 I very briefly had, the whites were just a little yellow on them. You never noticed it unless you had it side by side with the Apple, but then it was really noticeable. Early reports are saying that the whites on the AMOLED Nexus 6p may actually be a tinge on the blue side, which, in my opinion is better than yellow, but it still fails to meet that perfect balance of the iPhone.
As far as battery savings go, I'm a little skeptical on this. Yes, OLED only lights the needed pixels, but they also burn a lot of energy when a lot of pixels are lit. I'm sure there are other factors unrelated to the screen, but in the very white Android Lollipop era, phones with OLEDs seem to burn through those batteries awfully quick relative their Android LCD counterparts - and iOS is EVEN MORE WHITE, so I can't see how this would save battery, in fact, I fear quite the opposite.
After only a week of having it, I traded in my Nexus 6 to get my current iPhone 6+. Now, don't get too excited Apple fans, I did it because I cared a lot more about the [at the time] upcoming Nexus 6p than I did about the upcoming iPhone6s+, and made the swap because I could live without the latter in the name of securing the former at tax time, and the 6p was sounding good enough that it'd be worth missing out on the older Nexus 6 for - something that's seemed to be borne out, whereas by contrast, in a 6s+ world, I'm still pretty darn happy with my 6+. Anyway, when I made the trade, people asked me whether I preferred the 6+ or the Nexus 6. I responded, simply, that my "left brain" (the practical, rational, responsible, cost/benefit analysis side) preferred the iPhone, but that my "right brain" (the emotional, idealist, passionate, self-gratifying side, the side where my personality is) preferred the Nexus. In fact, this "left brain / right brain" thing bears out consistently across the Apple and Android ecosystem as a whole. I "left brain Apple", I "right brain Android". You could say my "heart" is with Android, and my "head" is with Apple, or that I "like" Android more, but "trust" Apple more.
Anyway, all that to say this: I also "right brain" OLED more than LCD (or at least, all my recent Android phone screens over my iPhone screen - despite the whites), but that I "left brain" the Apple's LCD over OLED, primarily because of the burn-in issue, but also because contrary to what this article says, I think OLED actually does more harm to battery life than it does help.
So, as I said, I'm torn. I suppose if Apple will either add a "dark mode" to the correspondent version of iOS and also include a "negative mode" like the Nexy 6 had to both a) combat burn-in, and b) help preserve battery, then I say by all means, bring on the dazzling, spectacular OLED!
Otherwise, I think on my Apple phone - the practical, left brain one - the "tool", I think I'd rather stick with a display that looks more ho-hum up front, but will never meaningfully degrade vs something more spectacular out of the box that will start heading south right away. Speaking of old phones we never got rid of, we also have my wife's old iPhone 4, that we let the 8yr old use. It's screen is as good as it was the day we got it, and not too super shy of the ones on the 6+. That's longevity, that's reliability, that's left brain! Those OLED screens are better suited on my more emotionally-driven, self-gratifying, right brain "toys" that I like better - the Android phones.
Anyway, that's my take - for whatever it's worth.
Cheers!
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